Birding club trip: Sandhill Cranes and more!!

Yesterday, I went on a trip with my birding club! We went to King George County and visited several private farms. The landscapes there were absolutely beautiful:

But we weren't there to see the scenery. Many unusual birds had irrupted into the area, and we wanted to track them down. A Hudsonian Godwit individual, a shore bird species, had been spotted. The individual had a leg that was very badly swollen. There were also Franklin's Gulls coming in, as well as Sandhill Cranes and Golden Eagles. (Oh, by the way, if there's a bird you haven't heard of here, I encourage you to look it up!)

At the first farm we visited there were plenty of Bald Eagles. There were also Ring-necked Ducks, American Wigeons, a Gadwall, and several Savannah Sparrows. They were too far away to photograph, but is was exciting to see them through the spotting scope.

At the second farm we went to, there was a lot more. There were hundreds of Ring-necked Ducks, Gadwalls, Ruddy Ducks, and Wigeons. There were Killdeer, Yellowlegs, and a Dunlin. There were eagles and a Northern Harrier. And gulls, including Ring-billed, Bonaparte's and Laughing, were moving about their colony.

But perhaps the most exciting thing was a flock of seven Horned Larks that flew on the pathway. It was very cool!

Horned Lark

Then we went to the third place. This was where we might find the rare Hudsonian Godwit. As we looked for it, we saw Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, Tundra Swans, Lesser Scaups, Pied-billed Grebes, and other shorebirds - but we hadn't found the Hudsonian Godwit, or the Golden Eagles, or the Sandhill Cranes, or the Franklin's Gull.

We looked some more. Dowitchers, Mockingbirds, Cedar Waxwings. We even saw a Peregrine Falcon chasing a Short-billed Dowitcher!

Lesser Yellowlegs on mudflat, at the third place.

We decided to do a little more birding at the second place. When we drove back there, I was looking for birds by the pond, but then someone exclaimed "Look! Sandhill Cranes! In the road!" We looked in that direction, and there they were! Four majestic cranes walking along the road, eating the bugs off the side.

Sandhill Cranes look very similar to Whooping Cranes, the iconic endangered species of the American Midwest. And indeed, the two cranes are very closely related. They are both pretty tall, and have stunning red crests. In Virginia, they are not very common, so it was just great to see them!

Everyone was leaning out the windows of the bus, watching and taking pictures. The cranes didn't notice, and kept eating. I got some pictures as well!

Sandhill Cranes.

Then it was time to leave. We all said goodbye to the cranes and set off for home. This was an AMAZING trip. I had 11 life birds (bird species I'd never seen before) and overall I saw about 40 bird species.